This blog explores how music's creative principles and practices can be applied to everyday life and work.

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Turn your problem into a song

The
song is one of the oldest and most enduring of musical structures. It has a
simple form: verses narrate the song’s story and a chorus encapsulates its key
message. As the verse carries the burden of the narrative, its tune is usually
less memorable than that of the chorus. The chorus needs a memorable, catchy
tune in order to highlight the key message and help people sing along.

When
thinking about issues and problems apply the principles of the song. What are
the verses of the problem? What is its narrative? What are its various
components or differing aspects? When analysing the verses of the problem what
chorus emerges? What is consistently emphasised as each verse passes by? This
aspect may well be the major, underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

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Cherry Blossom ချယ်ရီ ပွင့် I recently listened to this again; it is a quite beautiful little thing (quality of sound not withstanding). I ...

Charles M Lines

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About Charles M Lines

Charles M Lines trained as a musician and studied composition at the Colchester School of Music during the early 1980s. He joined the UK Civil Service in 1984 where he worked for various government departments, eventually specialising in management consultancy, training and development. In 1996 he became a Senior Lecturer at the UK Civil Service College.

At the age of 41 he left the Civil Service to work as an independent management consultant and trainer. He has since been in demand both at home and abroad, providing management consultancy and training events to a very wide range of clients.

He speaks and writes regularly about creative problem solving and how music's creative principles and practices can help us all be more creative in our approach to life and work.